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Tag - PSP2

More evidence has emerged that indicates Sony may have settled on an
official name for its next-generation handheld console. The company has filed for trademark protection for the PSVita logo as well as the names PSVita and Playstation Vita with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, the agency that oversees trademarks for the European Union. Sony had promised that the new handheld would be available before the end of the year.

Sony at its special event on Thursday leapt back into mobile gaming with the Next Generation Portable. The soon-to-come PSP2 promises a PS3-level experience with a much faster, quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor and a multi-core PowerVR SGX543MP4 graphics chip four times faster than seen before. It centers on a massive five-inch, 960x544 OLED screen that promises a much larger experience than on a smartphone.

Sony held a PlayStation Meeting 2011 event at 1AM Eastern that brought details of the NGP, commonly known as the PSP2. It represents a leap in performance and brings in touchscreen and 3G technology to challenge the iPod touch for mobile gaming. Please visit our live coverage page where we provided updates from the Tokyo event as it happened.

Swirling rumors of a PSP2 unveil on January 27 were supported on Tuesday with a corroborating story. Sony's console should be revealed that day and will be quickly followed by the Xperia Play in February, likely at Mobile World Congress. The Bloomberg source hinted that the two might be linked through a platform that would not only share music and movies through services like Qriocity but also games, although it wasn't stated that the PSP2 and Xperia Play would have the same game support.

A new report from MCVUK maintains Sony has told licensees the upcoming PSP2 is "as powerful as the PlayStation3." The statement is significant, as the home gaming consoles sports seven SPE processors running at 3.2GHz and 256MB of main RAM and 256MB of VRAM. It does line up with an earlier report, however, that pegged the hardware of the portable console at 1GB of RAM and claimed performance would match that of the Xbox 360 from Microsoft.

Sony Computer Entertainment head Kaz Hirai in a discussion posted Wednesday evening confirmed that the PSP2 would have a touchscreen. The future gaming system, which had been in development virtually since the original was launched in 2004, would have a mixture of both buttons and touch. He wouldn't be drawn into specifics by the New York Times but portrayed it as a best-of-both-worlds scenario where games could follow either an iPhone-style model, a conventional PSP game, or elements of the two.

A purported leak today has shown what's described as an early prototype of the PSP2. The design, which is believed to have since changed, superficially resembles the PSP Go but with many extra features. Among the details spotted by the VG247 source are front and back cameras, dual analog sticks and a rumored backside trackpad.

Sony had a private meeting at its Tokyo office close to the Tokyo Game Show where it showed off the upcoming PSP2portable gaming console. Also, sources say that the rear touch controls like those on the Motorola Backflip are present, backing earlier rumors. Sony did not describe how the trackpad will work, with developers in charge of implementing it in their games.

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Cirrus creates Lightning-headphone dev kit

Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has introduced a MFi-compliant new development kit for companies interested in using Cirrus' chips to create Lightning-based headphones, which -- regardless of whether rumors about Apple dropping the analog headphone jack in its iPhone this fall -- can offer advantages to music-loving iOS device users. The kit mentions some of the advantages of an all-digital headset or headphone connector, including higher-bitrate support, a more customizable experience, and support for power and data transfer into headphone hardware. Several companies already make Lightning headphones, and Apple has supported the concept since June 2014. http://bit.ly/29giiZj

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Apple Store app offers Procreate Pocket

The Apple Store app for iPhone, which periodically rewards users with free app gifts, is now offering the iPhone "Pocket" version of drawing app Procreate for those who have the free Apple Store app until July 28. Users who have redeemed the offer by navigating to the "Stores" tab of the app and swiping past the "iPhone Upgrade Program" banner to the "Procreate" banner have noted that only the limited Pocket (iPhone) version of the app is available free, even if the Apple Store app is installed and the offer redeemed on an iPad. The Pocket version currently sells for $3 on the iOS App Store. [32.4MB]

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Porsche adds CarPlay to 2017 Panamera

Porsche has added a fifth model of vehicle to its CarPlay-supported lineup, announcing that the 2017 Panamera -- which will arrive in the US in January -- will include Apple's infotainment technology, and be seen on a giant 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of an all-new Porsche Communication Management system. The luxury sedan starts at $99,900 for the 4S model, and scales up to the Panamera Turbo, which sells for $146,900. Other vehicles that currently support CarPlay include the 2016 911 and the 2017 models of Macan, 718 Boxster, and 718 Cayman. The company did not mention support for Google's corresponding Android Auto in its announcement. http://bit.ly/295ZQ94

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Apple employees testing wheelchair features

New features included in the forthcoming watchOS 3 are being tested by Apple retail store employees, including a new activity-tracking feature that has been designed with wheelchair users in mind. The move is slightly unusual in that, while retail employees have previously been used to test pre-release versions of OS X and iOS, this marks the first time they've been included in the otherwise developer-only watchOS betas. The company is said to have gone to great lengths to modify the activity tracker for wheelchair users, including changing the "time to stand" notification to "time to roll" and including two wheelchair-centric workout apps. http://bit.ly/2955JDa

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SanDisk reveals two 256GB microSDXC cards

SanDisk has introduced two 256GB microSDXC cards. Arriving in August for $150, the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s for reading data. The Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card can read at a fast 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s, and will be shipping sometime in the fourth quarter for $200. http://bit.ly/294Q1If

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Apple's third-quarter results due July 26

Apple has advised it will be issuing its third-quarter results on July 26, with a conference call to answer investor and analyst queries about the earnings set to take place later that day. The stream of the call will go live at 2pm PT (5pm ET) via Apple's investor site, with the results themselves expected to be released roughly 30 minutes before the call commences. Apple's guidance for the quarter put revenue at between $41 billion and $43 billion. http://apple.co/1oi1Pbm

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Twitter stickers slowly roll out to users

Twitter has introduced "stickers," allowing users to add extra graphical elements to their photos before uploading them to the micro-blogging service. A library of hundreds of accessories, props, and emoji will be available to use as stickers, which can be resized, rotated, and placed anywhere on the photograph. Images with stickers will also become searchable with viewers able to select a sticker to see how others use the same graphic in their own posts. Twitter advises stickers will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks, and will work on both the mobile apps and through the browser. http://bit.ly/29bbwUE